It’s now four years since Sony unveiled the world’s first full-framemirrorless cameras, in the shape of the 24MP A7 and 36MP A7R. A year-and-a-half later, we saw the updated A7R II, with a groundbreaking 42.4MP sensor, built-in 5-axis image stabilisation, and a much-improved body design. Now it’s time for round three, in the form of the Alpha 7R III.

Sony has clearly decided to stick to what it knows best and kept to a very familiar template, with a compact, SLR-styled body and central electronic viewfinder. But it’s taken the A7R II design and added many of the best features it debuted on the Alpha 9 earlier this year, with the aim of addressing those aforementioned weaknesses. The result is a very impressive camera with a remarkable combination of resolution, shooting speed and high-ISO image quality.

Sony has employed essentially the same excellent 42.4MP back-illuminated full-frame sensor as the A7R II, with on-chip phase detection for autofocus. However, it’s now been teamed up with the latest Bionx X processor and front-end LSI, bringing a slightly extended standard sensitivity range of ISO 100-32,000, expandable to ISO 50-102,400. The camera is said to offer fully 15 stops of dynamic range at ISO 100, which can be recorded into its 14-bit RAW files even during continuous or silent shooting (where the A7R II fell back to 12-bit raw).